Possible confirmed US SARS case

WTOP TV Washington DC | 18 Apr 2003 | libtoken

[libtoken]

WTOP-TV news appears to have reported this morning that the first confirmed US SARS case was detected in a Tidewater Virginia patient. It is possible the reporter confused this with one of the 35 probable SARS cases the CDC is reporting.

Personally, I hope WTOP-TV is mistaken.

[UKCajun]

What do you think will happen when SARS virus hits Iraq?!

It will not only rampage Iraq, but the entire Middle East population.

[libtoken]

I thought I had posted a correction of the source already. It was WUSA-TV in Washington DC (formerly WTOP-TV) that issued the claim of a confirmed SARS case in a Tidewater VA patient.

[Glenn]

Possible confirmed? Is it or isn't it?

[desertsolitaire]

M.O.O.N. that spells SCARY.

[desertsolitaire]

M.O.O.N. that spells SCARY.

[nepdap]

I thought we already had several cases confirmed in the US, including at least two here in the Houston area. Does this mean a confirmed SARS death?

[dawn53]

Here's a link to a WHO page:

http://www.who.int/csr/sarscountry/2003_04_17/en/

Looks to me like they're calling all the cases "probable".

Maybe since they've just developed a test, many in the US haven't been actually tested????

[Judith Anne]

Interesting. imho, it's only a matter of time before we most certainly have SARS cases confirmed in the US. Truthfully, I look for the US to be fairly quiet as far as SARS goes, until the fall and winter.

I could be wrong, but that's the pattern that influenza usually shows--in the spring, it's in the far east. In the fall, it's in the US.

[dawn53]

You may be right, but after yesterday's story about how the Hong Kong apartment building outbreak was linked to sanitation, I have my doubts.

We've spent some time in China, and even in large cities like Guangzhou, the sanitation facilities are very poor.

Only toilet we ever saw was in our hotel room. Restaurants had restrooms but no toilets, parks and public areas had ceramic lined trenches. Many people seemed to be "expectorating" (to put it politely) on the sidewalk, even on restaurant floors.

Markets were crowded, we're talking a replay of the "Gideon" episode on Star Trek (if you're a trekkie.) And there was all kinds of animals being slaughtered and the waste from the slaughter was just pooled in the road, so you would have to walk through it.

On the other hand, Toronto seems to have been effected, so my theory may be full of holes.

[nepdap]

Thanks for the link -- great info there! So we have WHO reporting "probable" cases, and this article reporting a "possible confirmed" case. Not sure I see the difference.

[Judith Anne]

Your observations are very useful and completely accurate. My concerns about SARS are based on the airborne spread to health care workers (doctors and nurses). Initially, as I understand it, a dry cough is one of the symptoms, and the very microscopic virus shedding that occurs then is likely responsible for the infections of health care workers.

I don't know when the patients start shedding virus, and how long after apparent recovery they continue shedding virus.

[Diogenesis]

Probable includes the symptoms and xray evidence.

Confirmed suggests a positive test for the SARS corona virus.

[libtoken]

I caught the last 80% of the news item. It stated "first confirmed SARS case" and "tidewater Virginia patient". It may be that this is the first confirmed Virginia SARS case, not the first confirmed US case.

I listed this as a "possible confirmed case" as review of several other news outlets, including two Tidewater Virginia ones, did not have any such report.

[libtoken]

It is also possible that the news item may actually have covered a case that the CDC considers "probable SARS" instead of an actual confirmed case.

[Judith Anne]

Yes, there is a lack of clarity in some of these articles.

[Judith Anne]

Sorry, s/b "lack of clarity in some of these reports.

[twigs]

You are correct. We have one now in the Lehigh Valley north of Philly and we have had at least one, if not more, in Philly prior to this. An acquaintance of mine died in her sleep following a cold just before Christmas in VA. I have now wondered if she could have had it before it was known.

[Grampa Dave]

Possible Confirmed is a real oxy moron like Iraqi Intelligence.

[Physicist]

We have one now in the Lehigh Valley north of Philly

Mrs. P's sister is a respiratory therapist at Lehigh Valley Hospital. I'm watching that case with keen interest.